His Only Friend
by thatgirlinredandgold
Summary: When Harry Potter was five years old he met a girl, Ellie Case. They were best friends. She always stood by him no matter what.


**This is just a short one shot that I wrote about a year ago and just now decided to post. THIS IS NOT A HARRYXOC ROMANCE! So tell me what you think in a review, and if you like this story you should check out Phoenix Rising, which is the main story that I am working on right now. Enjoy!**

"Can I play with you?" A little girl looked up to see who was addressing her. It was a smallish boy with untidy hair and piercing green eyes. He was skinnier than most of the boys in her kindergarten class, which was only made more defined by his clothes which were obviously several sizes too big for him. But what she found the most intriguing about the boy though was the scar on his forehead, which was in the definite shape of a lightning bolt. The girl, on the other hand was by no means pretty, with her ratty brown hair pulled back in a lopsided ponytail and tied off will a giant purple bow. But the girl smiled at the boy.

"Sure. My name's Ellie. What's yours?" she asked, scooting over on the alphabet carpet to make room for the boy next to her tower of blocks

"My name's Harry." He said as he picked up a block and added it to the top of her tower.

"Why are all the other boys mean to you?" Ellie asked innocently as she too added another block to her tower, and sighed angrily as it fell sideways.

"It's because I'm Dudley's cousin." He answered her solemnly, picking up the blocks and starting to build a new tower.

"But everybody loves Dudley! They should love you too!"

Harry shook his head. "No, Dudley hates me. He calls me Scarface. You don't like Dudley, do you?" Ellie had said that everybody loved Dudley. Harry hoped that didn't include her.

Ellie wiped a stray strand of hair out of her face. "He looks like a pig….and acts like one."

Harry giggled. "He _is_ a pig." Ellie laughed out loud as she added yet another block to her tower.

They played for a little while longer in silence, when Ellie asked suddenly, "Will you be my friend?"

Harry looked up. He never had a friend before, Dudley made sure of that. "Sure, I'll be your friend."

On normal standards, Ellie wasn't pretty, but to a 5 year old Harry Potter, who had never been invited to play, let alone be friends with somebody, she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

"There's Scarface now! Playing with a _girl_." Dudley pointed to a first grade Harry and Ellie passing a kickball back and forth by themselves. "Harry and Ellie, sittin' in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, then come-UMPH!" Dudley had fallen into the dirt beneath a very angry, but smug Ellie.

"You better be quiet." She warned.

Dudley's fat chin started to quiver slightly, which only made Ellie smirk.

"I'm gonna tell Mummy!" Dudley threatened.

By this time Harry had joined them. "Yeah, you'll go run to Mummy just like you always do!"

"At least I have a Mummy!" Dudley retorted as he got up from the ground. Harry's superior smile fell as his chin started to quiver as well.

Ellie was silent, but furious. Harry's parents were something Ellie knew never to mention. She remembered how sad Harry was when he told her his parents had died in a car accident, and Ellie decided never to bring it up. When she saw tears start to build up in Harry's eyes she completely lost it. Nobody can make Harry cry! Nobody! Ellie clenched her fists tightly and with one wild swing Dudley was back on the ground.

"At least Harry's not a fat, ugly troll!" And with that Ellie grabbed Harry's hand and together they stalked off towards the playground. Dudley will have to think twice before messing with Harry ever again!

"Harry, have you ever kissed somebody?" Ellie asked putting down the crayon she was using to color her picture.

Harry looked up from his own picture. "No."

"Oh…well maybe we should…." Ellie started awkwardly.

"Kiss?" Harry finished for her.

Ellie blushed. "Yeah."

"Well okay."

Ellie sat up straighter and flattened out her shirt. "Mummy says a girl's first kiss is one of the most important moments in her life. So I'm going to run home and get ready."

Ellie raced out of 4 Privet Drive and down the street to Magnolia Crescent. She pushed open the door to number 12 and rushed up the stairs.

"Ellie, where are you going?" Her mom asked as she dried her hands on a dish towel.

"I gotta get ready Mummy!"

She needed to find the perfect dress so she would look beautiful for her first kiss. She wanted to remember it as the best day of her life. Well, at least until she and Harry got married. She threw open the doors to her closet and started looking through the dresses. This one had too many flowers, the other one was too plain. The next one was too yellow, too frilly, too big, or too small. How come she couldn't find something to wear when she absolutely needed it? Then she saw it. Last year's Easter dress. It was light pink with a puffy skirt and a matching ribbon in the back. It was perfect. Okay, so maybe it did have a stain from when she threw up after eating her entire chocolate bunny in one sitting, but who cares?

Ellie quickly threw the dress on and rushed into her Mummy's bathroom. Mummy usually kept her makeup under the sink in a purple bag, but where was it? She looked and looked, but to no avail. Mummy's makeup seemed to have disappeared. Oh well, she'll just have to settle for her Barbie lip gloss.

Once again she raced down the street, her bare feet slapping the pavement. "I'm back Harry!" she called as she climbed over the fence.

"I'm over here Ellie!" He called back. "You look... beautiful."

"Really?"

"I don't know. But that's what they always say in the movies that Aunt Petunia watches."

"Oh, well OK. We should do it on the count of three. 1…2…3!" Ellie closed her eyes really tight and leaned forward as Harry did the same. Their lips touched for just one second before Ellie recoiled.

"Does this make you my girlfriend?"Harry asked quietly.

"I guess, but let's not kiss anymore. That was gross!"

Ellie didn't come to school one day. Harry was forced to endure seven hours of Dudley's constant teasing completely alone for the first time in five years. They were in 4th grade now, and although they were no longer "dating", they were still all but inseparable. Wherever Ellie was, Harry was also, and vice versa.

Harry managed the first day, and the second, and even the third, but by the fourth day Harry was nervous. What had happened to her? Ellie had never missed more than a couple days of school, so what could possibly cause her to miss almost an entire week? And why hadn't she called, or come over to see him. She didn't live that far away from Privet Drive. By the fifth day, Harry was ready to take action.

He marched down Magnolia Crescent until he reached number twelve. He knocked hard on the door, hoping it would be Ellie who opened the door. And to Harry's delight, she was. But that sudden moment of happiness that only seeing your best friend for the first time in days could cause, was gone with one look at her face. Her eyes were puffy and red. Her hair was as ratty and bushy as ever, and it looked as if her clothes hadn't been changed for days.

Harry was about to open his mouth to ask what was wrong when Ellie opened the door further and motioned for Harry to enter. She led him to the couch, and as soon as she was about to say something she burst into tears. Harry allowed her to cry into his shoulder for a moment before he said, "What happened?"

She sniffled and sat silently for several minutes. Suddenly, she spoke up. "Harry, do you miss your parents all the time?" And suddenly, she was crying again. Horrible, gut wrenching sobs. Harry was overcome with pity for his friend. Ellie never cried, only if something really horrible had happened. She was the tough one. She was the one that was brave enough to put Dudley in his place and walk away without batting an eye. Something terrible had happened, and Harry knew exactly what it was.

"He was fine." She continued. "Everything was normal. We were outside playing, but I left him, just for a minute. But when I went back outside, he was just lying there…dead." The last word came out barely a whisper, as if speaking it would cause her physical pain, when indeed it might.

"Ellie, I'm so sorry." Harry said, opening his arms wide in comfort. Ellie leaned into them gratefully. "It must've been awful." Ellie cried harder. "It'll all be okay."

"How can you say that?" She demanded angrily. "You never knew your dad. He died when you were just a baby! I'm the one who's going to miss him! You don't know what it was like. If I hadn't left, I could've saved him. I just feel like it's all my fault. He would've lived if I was there with him. I feel so guilty!"

"How could you have saved him Ellie?" Harry said. "You don't have super powers. There was nothing you could do."

Ellie nodded through her tears and leaned back into Harry's arms. He was right of course. Harry was always right.

"Is this the last of the boxes?" Harry asked, loading what seemed to be the millionth box into a moving band.

"Yeah, I think so." Ellie answered, as she too lifted a box into the van. Once everything was loaded, she sat down on the curb with a sigh. "Look, Harry, I'm really sorry about this. I don't want to leave, I really don't. It's just that my mum-"

"Too many memories?" Harry guessed.

"Yeah, something like that. It's been an entire year! I miss Dad too, but that doesn't mean we have to move in with my grandparents and 'start a new life'" Ellie said, mimicking her mother. "I don't want to leave!" Ellie kicked the tire of the moving van in frustration, but quickly regretted it. She clutched her foot in pain. "Stupid van."

Harry chuckled darkly. "I'm really going to miss you."

Ellie looked up and met his eyes. "I'm going to miss you too." And she crushed him in a hug. She tried to put every ounce of feeling she had into that hug, but they were interrupted by a small cough behind them.

"Ellie, it's time to go." Her mother said, voice gruff from what the two kids knew to be caused by unshed tears.

"Okay mom. " Ellie looked back at Harry and smiled sadly. "Bye Harry. I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too Ellie."

"Eleanor! I said let's go!"]

"Alright! I'm coming!" She gave one last look at Harry then climbed into the car. They hadn't even made it out of Magnolia Crescent when Ellie demanded that the car be stopped. Her mother obliged, although grudgingly. Ellie open the car door and ran as fast as she could to number twelve where Harry was, as expected, still on the driveway. She crushed her friend in a hug, never wanting to let go. Then she did something completely unexpected, making Harry blush a deep scarlet. She gave Harry a quick kiss on the cheek. "Goodbye."

Harry smiled. "Goodbye Ellie."

Harry didn't hear from Ellie for three years. During which time Harry had finished two years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry made new friends, but that didn't mean that she didn't cross his mind from time to time. After all, she was his first best friend, first crush, first "girlfriend", and first kiss. He sometimes wondered what it would have been like if Ellie hadn't moved. It wouldn't be that much different, he concluded one day. After all, he was at Hogwarts most of the year, but it certainly made his summers more enjoyable.

It was the summer before his third year that he got a letter, much to his surprise.

"Boy! Get down here! You've got mail! It better not be from one of your freak friends!" Uncle Vernon said as Harry descended the stairs.

"Did it come through the mail slot?" Harry asked, as if explaining this to a small child. Uncle Vernon nodded. "Then no, it's not from one of my school friends. Those are always delivered by owl."

Harry grabbed the letter from his uncle's hand and rushed upstairs before he got in any trouble. He stared at the handwriting, wondering who would ever write to him. It was big and loopy, and quite messy. Too messy to be from Hermione, but to girly to be from Ron. The return address was smeared, but Harry could still make out a name that started with an 'E'. It couldn't be could it? He eagerly ripped open the envelope. It read:

_Dear Harry,_

_ How've you been? Dudley still treating you alright? I'm so sorry I haven't written you before this, but it's been so crazy here! I enrolled in a new school shortly after we got here. It's amazing, I think you'd like it. Mum's better than when we left, but still really depressed. I guess it's because I'm going to a boarding school and only come home for Christmas and Summer. I still miss you. Next time I'm in town I promise to visit._

_Au Revoir!_

_Ellie_

That's it? Three years and she writes a paragraph? In his anger, Harry threw the envelope and letter against the walls. He was so frustrated that he almost missed the other paper that fell out of the open envelope. Almost. He crossed the room in a few quick strides and picked it up. It was a picture of Ellie sitting outside of her new house. She was smiling widely at the camera. Harry noticed that she had grown a lot in the last three years. She was no longer the little girl he used to play with for countless hours at recess. He hair was less ratty and bushy, and hung well below her shoulders. Her cheeks were no longer chubby, but more defined. Her blue eyes sparkled in the summer sun. She looked happy.

Looking at the picture, Harry felt his anger melt away. Ellie may be in a different country, they may both be starting to drift apart and move on with their lives, but right now Harry remembered. He remembered all those moments he had spend playing with her and he couldn't help but start to feel nostalgic. Harry got out a piece of paper and started to write a reply.

By the end of Harry's fourth year, the letters stopped. Harry went on to fight Voldemort, and ultimately save the wizarding world. Ellie on the other hand, graduated from her boarding school with very little action. As soon as she graduated, she moved back to London and got a job. It was there that she met George Weasley.

"Don't worry so much. They'll like you." George tried to coax, but Ellie shook her head.

"George, it's not your family I'm worried about. Remember that time you mentioned that your sister was engaged to Harry Potter and you asked if I knew him, well I lied. You see-"

"George! Come inside dear!" Ellie was interrupted by a happy looking women with George's red hair that Ellie knew must be his mother. "And who's this?"

"Mum, this is Ellie." George answered.

"Hello Mrs. Weasley." She greeted.

"It's a pleasure to meet you dear." She said as she shook Ellie's hand. "Well come inside. Almost everybody's here, we're just waiting on Ginny and Harry." George and Ellie followed Mrs. Weasley into the Burrow and were almost immediately greeted by a whole crowd of people. Ellie had never seen such a close knit family before. After her father's death, her mother had been anything but caring.

George introduced her to all his brothers. There was Bill, whose face was badly scarred, and his wife Fleur, who was holding a sleeping toddler and heavily pregnant. Then Ellie was introduced to Percy and his wife Audrey, who greeted them pompously. Then there was Ron and his girlfriend Hermione. George told her he had another brother, Charlie, but he was in Romania working with dragons and rarely came to these family get togethers.

It was a bit overwhelming being with so many people, who obviously knew each other very well. Ellie felt a bit out of place while George talked and laughed with his brothers. Ellie sat down on the worn out couch next to Ron and Hermione, and ran her fingers through her curly brown hair.

"Bit overwhelming?" Ellie looked up to see who was addressing her, and saw that it was Hermione.

Ellie managed a grateful smile. "Yeah, just a bit."

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it. I haven't seen you before, did you go to Hogwarts?"

"No, I went to-" Ellie was cut off when a red haired girl and very familiar black haired boy walked in. Ellie blushed deeply and hoped nobody noticed. He made his way over to the couch towards Ron and Hermione, not noticing the third person there.

"Hey guys, sorry we're late, we were… Ellie?" Ellie looked up and blushed a second time.

"Yeah, how have you been?"

"Uh, great. What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I'm here with George." George heard his name and quickly came over, putting his arm around Ellie's waist.

"So, do you two know each other?" he asked.

I nodded. "You could say that. We kind of grew up together."

Harry nodded in confirmation. "So what have you been up to the past six years?"

"Well I graduated from Beauxbatons and-"

"You're a witch?" Harry exclaimed, rather loudly making everybody in the room stop and stare at the two.

"Yeah, I am." She answered sheepishly.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Harry asked, looking slightly hurt.

"Well, it never came up. And to be fair, I didn't know you were a wizard until recently."

"How's your mum?" Harry asked.

The randomness of the question caught Ellie off guard. "She uh… she died. She committed suicide while I was at school." She answered, tears welling up in her eyes. George pulled her closer, and shot Harry a sharp look.

"I'm so sorry." He said.

The moment was interrupted when Mrs. Weasley yelled "Dinner!" The crowd shifted towards the small kitchen and Ellie was amazed that they were all able to fit around the small table. Ellie sat next to George and quickly grabbed his hand under the table. He smiled back reassuringly and then returned to his conversation with his father. Harry sat next to Ellie, and the red haired girl named Ginny seemed slightly annoyed by this fact. "I really am sorry, about your mum I mean."

Ellie managed a weak smile. "Yeah, well it's not like she was ever herself after my dad died. But it still hurts sometimes."

Harry was about to answer when George stood up suddenly, dragging Ellie with him. "George, what are you doing?" Ellie hissed.

"You said you wanted to tell them soon."

"Yeah, but not tonight in front of everybody!"

George ignored her final plea, and pulled Ellie closer to his side. "We're getting married!"

Harry had just taken a bug gulp of water and nearly choked when he heard the news. After he had composed himself, he managed a weak congratulations.

Soon everybody was congratulating them. Mrs. Weasley engulfed Ellie in a bone crushing hug and a "Welcome to the family!" Mr. Weasley was clapping George on the back. Ginny looked immensely relieved at the news, and it was then that Ellie knew that she had been jealous. Ellie smiled as Ginny gave her a hug and congratulated her.

Later that night, after almost everybody had left, Harry and Ellie were left alone in the living room while George and Ginny were in the kitchen.

"It's weird isn't it?" Ellie asked suddenly.

"What is?" Harry asked.

"We're all grown up now and getting married. You know, when I was really little, this is kind of embarrassing, but I used to always dream of marrying you. I would write things like _Mrs. Harry Potter _all over my notebooks, and plan our wedding in my head."

Harry laughed good naturedly. "Yeah, I know what you mean, because I did too. Not all that girly stuff like writing Mrs. Harry Potter, but I used to think about being best friends forever."

"We can still be friends. Just because we're getting married to different people doesn't change that, and you know, we're going to be seeing a lot of eachother."

Harry smiled. "I'd like that."

Ginny walked into the room suddenly. "Harry, we have to go."

"It was nice seeing you again." Ellie said giving Harry a quick hug.

"It was nice to see you again too." He said, before joining Ginny in the doorway. "Bye!"

"Seems like you knew him a lot better than you let on." George stated suddenly, making Ellie jump.

"Did you hear all that?" Ellie asked sheepishly.

George smiled mischievously. "Every word."

"And you're not upset about it at all?"

George laughed. "No, although I'm not too sure about Ginny. She seemed pretty ticked."

"She hates me, doesn't she?" Ellie asked quietly.

"Of course not. I guess she's just mad that Harry didn't tell her about all his previous girlfriends." He teased.

Ellie snorted. "If you could even call me that! We were, like, seven!"

"Well, is he a good kisser?"

Ellie rolled her eyes. "Not nearly as good as you George."

**Remember to review, they make my day. And check out my other story, Phoenix Rising!**


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